The US government (meaning CIA) propped him up. The Shah ran a corrupt and totalitarian regime, which tolerated no disagreement or dissent. The dreaded secret service agency (SAVAK) was trained and aided by Israelís Mossad (surprising). They had spies everywhere. Anyone that dared to criticize him 'disappeared' in their prisons; they were tortured and killed.
Like some movie star, he started believing in his own publicity and propaganda. He saw himself as an omnipotent. He was completely out of touch with his people - so much so that he could not would not believe that he was being booted out...until Washington ordered him to get out, before things got too ugly. He had become an embarrassment.
Islam's teachings urging resistance against oppression and injustice did play a role in spawning the movement that brought down the Shah's corrupt and totalitarian regime. But the US cannot disown its own role in sowing the seeds of change. Washington's short- sighted policies, especially the CIA's role in bringing down the elected government of Prime Minister Mohamed Musaddaq and propping up a discredited monarch in the face of fierce popular opposition also paved the way for the rule of the Ayatollahs.
Talking to my Iranian friends, things are difficult in Iran; but it was worse under the Shah, they say.

In 1971 this guy spent over a hundred million bucks throwing a lavish party out near Persepolis for the world's big wigs and royalty, ostensibly to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire....there were 160 acres of air conditioned tents, with dining caterd by Maxim's of Paris...guests consumed 25,000 bottles of wine, feasted on quail eggs, caviar, and partridge with fois gras and truffle stuffing...at the time the average yearly income in Iraq was $350 a year.. And yet, when the Iranian Revolution occured in 1971, and the Shaw was deposed by the Ayotola Khomeini, US and European intelligence agencies were taken completely by surprise....

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